Ear-ornament clips

ABSTRACT

A precious metal ear-ornament clip whose &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;grip&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; on the ear lobe is adjustable and is maintained by maintenance of the angular relationship of its two constituent clip members. Said maintenance is ensured by the frictional engagement of the inwardly directed surfaces of two limbs (which form a part of one clip member and whose free ends are pivotally connected to the other clip member) with the outwardly directed surfaces of two further limbs (carried by the other clip member) which are forced apart by a spring located between them. The spring is essential because the precious metal or precious metal(s) alloys may lack the requisite spring properties.

United States Patent Van Bergen [4 Apr. 11, 1972 54] EAR-ORNAMENT CLIPS3,237,266 3/1966 Van Bergen ..63/14 c x [72] Inventor: Johannes AntoniusWilhehnus Petrus Van FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Bergen, 109Westward Deals, Kedmgton, s fi England 976,341 1 1/1964 Great Britain..63/l4.3 739,789 11/1955 Great Britain ..63/14 C [22] Filed: Aug. 7,1969 Primary ExaminerF. Barry Shay [21] Appl' 848250 Attorney-Pennie,Edmonds, Morton, Taylor and Adams [30] Foreign Application Priority Data[57] ABSTRACT Aug. 24, 1968 Great Britain ..40,554/68 A precious metalear-omament clip whose grip on the ear lobe is adjustable and ismaintained by maintenance of the an- 52 us. Cl ..63/l4 c, 24/248JE gularrelationship of its two constituent p members- Said [5 l Int. Cl. ..A44b21/00 maintenance is ensured y the ff ictiona] engagement Ofthe [58]Field of Search ..63/9, 14 c, 14 D; 24/2 Wardly directed Surfaces of twolimbs (which form a P of one clip member and whose free ends arepivotally connected to the other clip member) with the outwardlydirected sur- [56] References cued faces of two further limbs (carriedby the other clip member) UNITED STATES PATENTS which are forced apartby a spring located between them. The spring is essential because theprecious metal or precious 246,146 8/1881 Kelley ..63/9 metal) alloysmay l the requisite Spring pr0penies 290,590 12/1883 Lettre ....63/9293,016 2/1884' Harrington ..63/9 1 Claim, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR1 1 I972 SHEET 1 OF 2 INVENTOR 1 JOHANNES ANTONIUS WILHELMUS PETRUS VANBERG EN Mada;

' ATTORNEYS PATENTEDAPR-n I972 5 7 SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR i JOHANNESANTONIUS WILHELMUS PETRU S VAN BERGEN Mlyj u 0 ATTORNEYS EAR-ORNAMENTCLIPS This invention relates to ear-ornament clips.

According to Websters International Dictionary, one of the meanings ofthe word carat is a twenty-fourth part and the word is used inexpressing the proportionate fineness of a gold alloy (for example, agold alloy containing fourteen twentyfourths by weight of gold isfourteen carats fine). As employed herein, the term proportionatefineness is to be taken as applying to both silver and platinum, mutatismutandis, besides applying to gold since it is well-known that in thejewellery field copper is added to silver (silver 92% percent copper 7%percent composition by weight for sterling silver) to strengthen and toharden the pure metal whose strength and hardness are not of therequisite order, each of copper and iridium is added to platinum and analloy is used which consists of 50 percent palladium and 50 percentsilver.

In U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,266, I have disclosed an ear-omament clipcomprising a first clip member adapted to be pressed against one side ofthe lobe of an car, a second clip member in the form of an arm pivotedat one end to the first clip member by interengaging pivotally connectedparts of the two members, said am at its other and free end beingadapted to be pressed against the other side of the ear lobe, means tomaintain the two clip members frictionally in the ear lobe engagingrelationship and comprising, as part of one of said clip members, abifurcation comprising part of the pivotal connection of the two clipmembers, and, provided as part of the other clip member, resilient partsadapted to mate frictionally between the limbs of said bifurcation andseparated from the pivot axis of said pivotal connection of the two clipmembers.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide anear-ornament clip which functions as efficiently as those sold undersaid patent even when made of one of the precious metals or of an alloycontaining one or more of the precious metals whose proportionatefineness may be such as to inhibit the necessary springiness of theparts which participate in said frictional mating.

It is a subsidiary object of the present invention to be able tocontinue to sell the ear-ornament clip construction which has becomewidely known by sale and advertising with as little structionalmodification as is humanly possible whilst achieving the principalobject of the present invention.

It is a further subsidiary object of the present invention to provide anear-ornament clip with a concealed custom-made spring device whose scaledecreases with that of the clip itself and which is fitted to the clipin a simple but effective manner.

It is yet a further subsidiary object of the present invention toprovide an ear-ornament clip in which there is a positively locatedspring which the wearer of the clip is unable to avoid loading wheneverthe clip is temporarily secured to an ear lobe, said loading being thecause of the established grip on the lobe being maintained by frictionalmating of the constituent members of the clip. Said spring may consistof an element made wholly of a natural or synthetic elastomericmaterial, the sizes and shapes in relation to one another of the saidelement as manufactured on the one hand and the spaced to be occupiedthereby in the clip as manufactured on the other hand being such as toensure that said element, when properly positioned in said clip wouldalways be under compression and would thus be adapted to maintain saidfrictional mating. However, said spring may alternatively consist of asubstantially V-shaped element made of spring metal whose limbs would,when the V-shaped element has been properly positioned in said clip,always be under compression and would thus be adapted to maintain saidfrictional mating.

The present invention will now be more particularly described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side elevation of first and second clip members, inassembled condition, of an ear-ornament clip made of one of the preciousmetals and constructed according to the present invention, one free endof that clip member to which it is intended to fix the ornamentconcerned being broken away and sectioned to reveal the eyelet for themounting of said ornament or for the mounting of the support to whichthe ornament may be fixed;

FIG. 2 illustrates a top plan view looking in the direction of the arrowA in FIG. 1 of only that clip member to which it is intended to fix saidornament, said top plan view illustrating clearly the conformation inone embodiment of said clip of the resilient parts carried by said clipmember as manufactured and before the fitting thereto of saidcompression spring means;

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a side elevation and a top plan view,respectively, of the compression spring means adapted for use in saidone embodiment of said clip;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 except that the conformation(in an alternative embodiment of said clip) is illustrated of theresilient parts carried by said clip member as manufactured and beforethe fitting thereto of said compression spring means;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a side elevation and a top plan view,respectively, of the compression spring means adapted for use in saidalternative embodiment of said clip; and

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate top plan views of said one and said alternativeear-ornament clips each fitted with the respective one of thecompression spring means.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 8 and 9, there is illustrated therein anear-ornament clip part or which includes a first clip member 1 and asecond clip member 2, the members 1 and 2 being referred to by those inthe jewellery trade in at least certain regions of the world as the backsection and the front section, respectively. The member 1 consists of anarm 3 which is shaped in order to be pressed (when in use) with comfortagainst the inside surface of the lobe of the ear and which connects twoparallel limbs 4, 5 in the vicinities of the free ends of whichdepressions 6 (only one of which is visible) are so formed by a pressingoperation as to result in the provision of pips or protuberances (notvisible in the drawings) which extend towards one another and which areaxially aligned with one another. The parallel limbs constitute a pairof bifurcated arms which are a part of said first clip member 1.

The member 2 (see also FIGS. 2 and 5) is appropriately shaped and formedto provide two parallel lugs 7 and two arcuate elongated limbs orbifurcated arms 8 (only one of said lugs and one of said arcuateelongated limbs being visible in FIG. 1), said lugs 7 being spaced fromsaid limbs 8. Holes (not illustrated) are punched in said lugs 7 for theaccommodation of the pips or protuberances on the limbs 4, 5, said holeson the one hand and said pips or protuberances on the other handconstituting the pivotal connection of said members 1, 2 to one another.Said limbs 8 are subjected to a pressing operation which results in theformation of arcuate depressions 9 in the outwardly directed surfacesthereof and corresponding protuberances 10 which interrupt the inwardlydirected surfaces thereof and which are in axial alignment with andextend towards one another.

That end of the member 2 which is remote from the lugs 7 and the limbs 8is appropriately shaped and formed to provide an eyelet which isindicated in general by the reference numeral 11, said eyelet being tofacilitate the fixing or mounting of the ornament concerned or for themounting of the support to which the ornament may be fixed.

Having described the respects in which the members 1, 2 are identical inthe two embodiments illustrated in the drawings, reference will now bemade to FIG. 2 in which the arcuate elongated limbs 8 are not parallelas shaped and formed and to FIG. 5 in which the arcuate limbs 8 areparallel or substantially parallel as shaped and formed.

In FIG. 2 the limbs 8 are divergent in the direction of the eyelet 11and the inwardly directed surfaces of said limbs (ignoring theprotuberances 10 which interrupt said surfaces) are located in planes Bwhich contain an angle of 12.

In FIG. 5 the limbs 8 are parallel to one another or substantially so,this being the case because of the different type of compression springmeans which is to be used and which will hereinafter be described.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, there is illustrated therein an element 12which is made of natural or synthetic elastomeric material (for examplenatural rubber) and which is arcuate in side elevation and substantiallyfrusto-conical in top plan view. The radii of curvature adopted toimpart the arcuate configuration are equal to or substantially equal tothose adopted for the limbs 8. The element 12 has two flanks whosesurfaces 13 are located in planes C which contain an angle of 14 and theend 14 of the element is rounded (see FIG. 4) to match the radius ofcurvature of the inside surface 15 of the junction 16 of the limbs 8.Moreover, the surfaces 13 have moulded therein, at the time when theelastomeric material is being cured, two aligned arcuate recesses 17whose dimensions match as closely as possible those of the protuberance10.

Referring now to FIG. 8, the element 12 is illustrated in positionbetween the limbs 8, the protuberances 10 on said limbs extending intothe recesses 17 formed in the surfaces 13 of said element, wherebymechanical inter-engagement is created between the element 12 whichconstitutes the compression spring means in this particular embodimentof the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is illustrated a substantiallyV-shaped element 18 made of springy metal (for example spring steel orberyllium copper), said element being arcuate in side elevation. Thelimbs 19 of the element 18 are subjected to a pressing operation which(as with the limbs 8 of the clip member 2) results in the formation ofarcuate depressions 20 in the outwardly directed surfaces thereof andcorresponding protuberances 21 which interrupt the inwardly directedsurfaces thereof and which are in axial alignment with and extendtowards one another. The limbs 19 are divergent and the inwardlydirected surfaces thereof (ignoring the protuberances 21 which interruptsaid surfaces) are located in planes D which contain an angle of 20.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the element 18 is placed between the parallellimbs 8 (see FIG. with the result that not only are the free ends of thelimbs 19 forced closer together by or under the influence of the limbs 8but also the free ends of said limbs 8 are forced farther apart by orunder the influence of the element 18. The resultant appearance, in atop plan view, of this particular embodiment of the completeear-ornament clip (namely, the two pivotally connected clip members 1, 2and the spring means 18) is identical with or closely resembles that ofthe other embodiment of the complete ear-ornament clip which consists ofthe two pivotally connected clip members 1, 2 and the spring means 12,mutatis mutandis.

It should be noted from FIG. 8 that there is a space or clearance Sbetween the round end 14 of the element 12 and the inner surface of thecurved junction of the limbs 8. A similar clearance S exists between theouter surface of the bend in the element 18 and the inner surface of thecurved junction of the limbs 19 (FIG. 9). These clearances must existwhen the elementsconcerned have been inserted between the limbsconcerned and should fall within the range from 0.004 to 0.007 inch.When the ear-ornament clip is being worn, the

spring element concerned will have become loaded and some of thisclearance S will have been taken up.

It is not considered that the angles of 12, 14 and 20 and theparallelism of the limbs 8 in FIG. 5 are of an importance which iscritical in the sense that an ear-ornament clip constructed inaccordance with FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 will not work without the angles12 and 14 specifically mentioned or in the sense that an ear-ornamentclip constructed in accordance with FIGS. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 9 will not workwithout the angle 20 and the parallelism of the limbs 8 specificallymentioned. The choice of the particular angles may be varied withinlimits which are in fact imposed by the decorative nature of the articleitself (namely, the clip which is made of a precious metal or of analloy which includes at least one precious metal) and by the desiredoverall dimensions of the article. The limbs 8 (which constitute theresilient parts of the other clip member 2) must not be caused by theelements 12,

18 to be so widely splayed o r divergent in the direction of the eyelet11 as to make very difficult such pivotal movement of the clip member 1relative to the clip member 2 as is necessary to cause the ear-lobe tobe gripped. Conversely, the splaying or divergence must not be so littlethat the degree of compression of the elements 12, 18 is too small tomaintain said frictional mating.

It will be obvious that the element 12 could be moulded so as to haveprotuberances thereon instead of and in the same positions as therecesses 17, provided that the limbs 8 were provided with recessesinstead of and in the same positions as the protuberances 10 thereon.Similar remarks apply to the limbs 8 and the spring element 18.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. An ear-ornament clip comprising a first elongate clip part having twobifurcated arms at one end thereof and an ear-engaging surface at theother end thereof, said first clip part further including firstpivot-forming means on said bifurcated arms, said clip furthercomprising a second elongate clip part made of material including aprecious metal, said second clip part including second pivot-formingmeans at a location intermediate its ends, said second pivot-formingmeans being adapted to coact with said first pivot-forming means toeffect pivotal connection of said clip parts, said second clip partfurther including, along the length thereof on one side of said secondpivot-forming means, a pair of arcuate bifurcated arms adapted to passbetween said first-named bifurcated arms at one relative angularposition of said pivotally interconnected first and second clip members,said second-named bifurcated arms forming a continuous inner surfacetherebetween, and elastic means disposed between said second-namedbifurcated arms stressing them apart and into frictional engagement withsaid first-named bifurcated arms when said clip parts are at said onerelative angular position, said elastic means having an arcuateconfiguration substantially identical to that of said second-namedbifurcated arms and in contact with said inner surface alongsubstantially the entire length of said inner surface.

1. An ear-ornament clip comprising a first elongate clip part having twobifurcated arms at one end thereof and an ear-engaging surface at theother end thereof, said first clip part further including firstpivot-forming means on said bifurcated arms, said clip furthercomprising a second elongate clip part made of material including aprecious metal, said second clip part including second pivot-formingmeans at a location intermediate its ends, said second pivot-formingmeans being adapted to coact with said first pivot-forming means toeffect pivotal connection of said clip parts, said second clip partfurther including, along the length thereof on one side of said secondpivot-forming means, a pair of arcuate bifurcated arms adapted to passbetween said first-named bifurcated arms at one relative angularposition of said pivotally interconnected first and second clip members,said second-named bifurcated arms forming a continuous inner surfacetherebetWeen, and elastic means disposed between said second-namedbifurcated arms stressing them apart and into frictional engagement withsaid first-named bifurcated arms when said clip parts are at said onerelative angular position, said elastic means having an arcuateconfiguration substantially identical to that of said second-namedbifurcated arms and in contact with said inner surface alongsubstantially the entire length of said inner surface.